


Reserved Parking

by Esselle



Series: Speed Demons [6]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Car Racing, Developing Relationship, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Frottage, House Hunting, M/M, Street Racing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 14:31:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11083560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esselle/pseuds/Esselle
Summary: 'Hinata has never dated anyone before. And he's not dating anyone now, nope—his motto is that life is too short and fast to get caught up in that game. It's like stalling your car at the start of a sprint—becausewho knowswhat (or who) you might find out there, next. Yeah, Hinata likes fast and exciting.He really, really does, and it's quickly becoming clear to him that he's never met anyone more exciting than Kageyama.'--Even for those who like to live fast, the rush of falling can be scary.





	Reserved Parking

**Author's Note:**

> It's been too long since I wrote these racer boys! Someone had sent a Tumblr ask a while back asking if these two would ever talk about their feelings a bit more in depth... I still maintain that this is a series/setting where none of them really Talk About Emotions very often, but, I'd had this idea in my head for awhile, and the two sort of melted into one :)

They aren't racing tonight, but it's not all that bad.

They don't race every night during the tournament bracket, anyway, so Hinata is used to the occasional lulls as it is, even though he always feels like he might vibrate right out of his Chucks with how badly he wants to be out there on the track, speeding through the city when all the lights are down low.

But tonight is one of the rare nights when both he and Kageyama are out of rotation, which means they get to watch together, side by side, sitting on the hood of Kageyama's Dark Horse (because everyone knows that you still bring your metal, your calling card, your pride and joy to circuits, even if you aren't running one that night).

So they sit on the black matte hood, cool in the night air, steamed perspiration hand prints marring the flawless surface, sharing a beer between them. And Hinata still feels like he's racing.

The blood in his veins races every time he puts his lips to the mouth of the bottle after Kageyama has taken a sip, and his mind races every time Kageyama shifts, pressing their thighs together, and his heart races every time he catches Kageyama watching him instead of the cars on the road.

It's as good as being behind the wheel, maybe.

Hinata has never dated anyone before. Crushed on, fooled around with, fucked, sure; but never dated. And he's not dating anyone now, nope—his motto is that life is too short and fast to get caught up in that game. It's like stalling your car at the start of a sprint—because _who knows_ what (or who) you might find out there, next. Yeah, Hinata likes fast and exciting.

He really, really does, and it's quickly becoming clear to him that he's never met anyone more exciting than Kageyama. And they're _not_ dating, no, that's not the word for it, but…

"Hey," Kageyama murmurs, leaning over to graze Hinata's ear with his lips, sending a long shiver up Hinata's spine. "After the races. Your place or mine?"

Hinata bites his lip, then tilts his head back and grins up at the rough-hewn cement overpass above them, blocking the dark sky from view. Man, he's always loved that post-race adrenaline.

"That's not an answer," Kageyama says, but Hinata can tell from his tone he's fighting a smile.

"Mine," Hinata replies giddily. "It's closer."

Kageyama smirks. "You're always impatient."

"Me! You suggested it!"

He is impatient, though. Kageyama isn't wrong; it's just that he isn't entirely being truthful, either.

They're both impatient. It's one of the main reasons why Hinata looks forward to these nights, now, the ones that run just on the goosebumps side of chilly, so he can't tell whether the tingling on his skin is from the breeze or the whisper of Kageyama's low voice in his ear. It's why they're both used to one, two, three AM text messages, waking up in beds that used to be unfamiliar, but are now much closer to something like home.

They both drove over separately, so they split up on the way back to Hinata's, only after Kageyama grabs at his wrist through the open window of his car, pulling Hinata back down to make out with him slow and hot enough that there are catcalls and wolf whistles after awhile. Kageyama, being the bastard he is, honks twice at Hinata's ass as he retreats to his Mazda, and Hinata raises his hand high into the air and flips him off decisively. Hopefully, it draws attention away from his wobbly knees.

He beats Kageyama back to his apartment (they weren't actually trying to see who could get back first but Hinata still counts this as a victory) and lets himself in. His place is small, very much a bachelor pad, one room studio apartment with a kitchen they barely both fit in and one tiny bathroom. It's not as big as Kageyama's one bedroom, but it feels more homey, because Kageyama sucks at interior decorating. The only decorations Hinata has ever seen in his apartment are barbells and the occasional wrench.

Hinata, on the other hand, likes a bit of clutter. He has mementos on the walls, street signs snagged while drunk and vacation hot spots he'd like to visit, model cars on flimsy wall-mounted shelves. The couch has mismatched squashy pillows and the old TV sports a collection of random bobbleheads on top.

There doesn't seem to be anything he needs to do a rush cleaning job of, and turns out he wouldn't have time, anyway, because soon there's a thumping at the door.

He scurries to open it and in tumbles Kageyama, already toeing off his shoes before he's over the threshold.

"Parking _sucks_ around your building," he grumbles. "I'm pretty sure you took the last spot, you shit, I had to park like seven miles away—"

He cuts off as Hinata drags him down by his plain black shirt, back into the kiss like they never broke it off. Kageyama kicks the door closed behind him, sucking hard on Hinata's tongue as he slides his hands down Hinata's back so he can drag Hinata right up against him.

Kageyama squeezes shamelessly, kneading Hinata's ass cheeks in his hands. He's always so _handsy_ —maybe it's the mechanic side of him. The thought makes Hinata grin against his lips.

"What?" Kageyama growls, and Hinata slides his arms over his shoulders, pushes his fingers into Kageyama's hair.

"You want my ass bad, huh?" he teases. Kageyama squeezes harder and grinds against him, making it pretty obvious that he _does,_ but Hinata isn't giving up that easily. "You better tell me, Kageyama, or I'm not—"

He cuts off with a squeal when Kageyama picks him up off the ground, a reminder that all the weights in his room aren't just for show.

"Nice fucking try," Kageyama tells him, hauling Hinata off to his bed. "You have two options, idiot."

"Wh-what?" Hinata asks, as Kageyama tosses him unceremoniously onto the sheets.

"Option one," Kageyama lists off, climbing over Hinata and ducking his head, mouthing warm and wet up Hinata's jawline. When he reaches Hinata's ear, he murmurs, "You say my name."

Hinata chews his bottom lip and laughs. "Mmm… nah. Option two?"

Kageyama bites his earlobe for that. Hinata jerks and gasps, and Kageyama drops a hand down, flat over his stomach and lower, to cup him through his shorts.

"You say my name… _louder,_ " he reveals triumphantly.

Hinata chooses option two.

"F-fuck," he moans, after Kageyama has teased and played with him mercilessly, for what seems like fucking  _forever._ He wants Hinata to be loud. He knows how to get what he wants. "Oh, god, Kageyama—give—give me—"

Kageyama tugs his jeans down one-handed, and Hinata wraps his legs around his waist, rolling his hips up to feel their cocks sliding together.

"Like this?" Kageyama pants.

"Yeah, _fuck—_ " Hinata groans. "Come on me, Tobio, want you to make me— _nngh_ —get me all dirty—"

Kageyama loses all restraint at that, rocks his hips into Hinata's and drags him to the edge, until Hinata is burying his face in his neck so he can cry out Kageyama's name as he comes, trying to muffle it. The walls aren't thick and it's too late at night to be making this much noise, but he can't help it.

Kageyama sits back on his knees, lets Hinata drag a hand over his gorgeous chest as he strokes himself to completion, splattering Hinata's stomach as he finishes. It's a very messy night, and a good one.

"Awww, Kageyama!" Hinata complains, when Kageyama slides forward to lay on top of him, much too heavy and far too sticky.

"You asked me to do that," Kageyama says.

"Yeah, but now we're gonna stick together," Hinata says, shoving weakly at him. He squeals as Kageyama writhes on top of him. "It's squishing out! It's getting all over the bed!"

"Your problem, not mine," Kageyama says, obviously delighted. He capitulates when Hinata starts smacking every part of him he can reach. "Alright, alright—I get the shower first though."

Hinata concedes, grumbling as he wipes himself free of excess sweat and cum with the sheet. He strips the bed and balls up the filthy mess of cloth, dumping it in the corner of the room and trudging to his closet on shaky legs to look for a new set of sheets.

He pulls open the bottom drawer of the little dresser in the closet, and remembers. He's behind on doing laundry this week.

The drawer sits mainly empty, except for a single, faded, folded up sheet at the bottom of it. Hinata stares at it in confusion at first, and then slow, dawning horror as he realizes what it is, his lack of other options, and the predicament he's found himself in. Briefly, he considers leaving the bed sheetless—but Kageyama knows where he keeps the sheets, and Hinata knows him well enough to know he'll storm over irritably to double check, as though Hinata is some kind of liar (which he would be, technically), and find _these sheets._ And he'll know Hinata was trying to hide them, and Hinata will _never_ hear the end of that.

When Kageyama emerges from the bathroom with a towel around his waist, it's to a dark room, and Hinata sitting nonchalantly at the edge of the bed.

"Why are the lights off?" he asks slowly.

"Oh!" Hinata says brightly. "I thought you'd be ready to go to sleep! So…"

"I'm not, and you haven't showered yet," Kageyama says matter-of-factly, the strangeness of the situation apparently flying over his head. He reaches for the light switch.

Hinata yelps, "Wait!" but he's too late.

He blinks in the sudden brightness and then stands awkwardly, hoping to block the bed from Kageyama's view. Kageyama stares at him funny. Hinata is still naked, so it must seem weird already, but then his eyes fall on the bed.

"Are those…" he starts to say.

"Look," Hinata says, "I had these in high school and brought them to college, and I still hadn't thrown them out yet, I guess, but I forgot to do laundry this week, and—"

"Are those _race car sheets_?" Kageyama asks, ignoring his babbling completely.

"What—no! No, they're not…" Hinata trails off as Kageyama pushes past him, and hangs his head. "Yeah. They're race car sheets."

They're the dorkiest kind of sheets. Bright, clashing reds and blues, big cartoon cars on a black "asphalt" covertop. They'd be found in the kids section of any major department store. He sort of got a pass in high school, but using them now, as an adult who  _actually_ races for a living, Hinata realizes it's pretty lame.

Kageyama stares at them, wordlessly. Hinata waits for the mockery, the laughter.

"These are…" Kageyama finally says, running his hand over the bed, "... _amazing._ Where did you buy them?"

"I don't… remember…" Hinata says. "Wait, _what?"_

"I always wanted these as a kid…" Kageyama says, and Hinata watches in amazement as he sits down, bouncing lightly on the bed. All his swagger, the bravado the track and the Dark Horse gives him, fades away. "How come you never showed me these?" he asks, voice bordering on accusing.

Hinata shakes his head, stunned. "I thought you'd…" He had barely remembered those sheets. But his assumption had been Kageyama would think they were immature, or stupid. "You really like them?"

Kageyama looks up at him and nods, emphatically and sincerely.

Hinata flops onto the bed on his stomach, shoving his face into the sheets. He feels warm and tingly all over, but not because he's turned on or excited about racing or anything like that. It's just dumb Kageyama, being there, being the way he is.

"What are you doing?" Kageyama asks.

Hinata rolls over to look up at him, sliding his hand across the sheets to play with Kageyama's long fingers. They're not dating, but…

"Maybe we should get a place together," Hinata says, before he even really thinks it through.

But before he can clarify anything, Kageyama shrugs and nods. "Yeah," he says. "Yeah, maybe."

Hinata nods. He hasn't thought about it that much before now, but, their own place. It sounds really good. Staying with Kageyama, or the other way around, Kageyama staying with _him…_ it sounds damn nice.

Nice enough that he can ignore the snagged thought at the back of his mind, the little voice that asks him what made him think being the first to suggest a thing like that was a good idea—what makes him think he knows how to _stay?_

But Kageyama is hiding a smile, now, the one Hinata can never get enough of. It makes him feel like he's won first place every time, being the cause of it. So he just smiles back.

"Go shower, hurry up," Kageyama says gruffly, an attempt to sound slightly irritable that misses the mark. "You're gonna get these dirty."

*

A couple weeks later, they have begun apartment hunting.

"So, what do you think?"

Hinata doesn't really need to ask Kageyama his opinion, because he already has a pretty good sense of what Kageyama has been thinking. He likes it. The frown on his face is currently one of quiet contemplation, not his usual resting grumpy face. He's clearly been won over by the airy charm of the seafoam blue living room walls and surprisingly roomy kitchen.

"It's fine," Kageyama says.

Hinata cocks his head. "Just fine?"

The agent they are working with has flitted off to take a call, leaving them able to talk freely.

Kageyama nods. "What about you?"

Hinata sighs. "I don't know… I'm not sure about the balcony."

Kageyama's face seems to… fall, frown deepening. "The balcony."

"Doesn't it seem a little _too close_ to like… the other balconies?" Hinata asks.

"What does _that_ mean?"

"I don't know I just feel like, if someone was really trying, they could probably hop from balcony to balcony and get into our apartment or something!" Hinata says. "Because they’re really close together! There's no risk involved."

Kageyama's whole face has scrunched up. "Are you _serious_ right now?"

"It's a safety issue," Hinata says, "why wouldn't I be serious?"

"You had no problem with the balcony," Kageyama says, "or any other part of this apartment, until just now. Then, _all of a sudden—"_

"How do you know what I thought about it?" Hinata interjects. "You were the one who thought the _aerodynamics_ of that other place we saw were bad—"

"They _were_ bad!"

"It's an _apartment,_ Kageyama, not an _airplane!"_ Hinata throws his hands in the air. "You're being too picky!"

"I'm being picky?" Kageyama interjects. "You're the one who's been picky this whole time! And it's only ever after I say I—"

"Sorry about that!" a voice interrupts, and the argument screeches to a halt as the agent rejoins them. She looks back and forth between the two of them. "Any thoughts about this one?"

"I don't like it anymore," Kageyama snaps, before stomping out of the apartment.

Hinata scrubs a hand over his face. He takes a deep breath, turns to the confused agent, and puts on his most charming smile. "Let's move on to the next one!"

Irritation has been mounting throughout the day. It started off fairly well—they had a neighborhood in mind with lots of available listings, midway between the garage and one of the areas of town that was a hotbed of race activity at night. They have a pretty simple list of requirements, two-bedroom, one bath, big enough for them both and maybe the occasional guest. It should have been an easy task.

Somewhere along the way, if Hinata is being honest with himself, he'd self-sabotaged.

Their tastes already run opposite, which makes settling on a particular style of apartment tricky. But in the long run, Kageyama's reservations have been reasonable, and he's been more or less content with a majority of the properties they've seen.

And when he _does_ like a place, Hinata can just… tell. There's a look Kageyama gets on his face, in his eyes, primarily—sharp and bright, like the way they get when he's navigating a new circuit for the first time. There's something in his mouth, too, that quiver of excitement he always tries so hard to hold back.

It's the way he looks at his car, the way he'd looked at those stupid old kids' bed sheets.

But this is an apartment.

It's _just_ an apartment, and Hinata can't understand why Kageyama, who spends so much more time out of his own studio, preferring to be at the shop or at the track or lately, Hinata's place, would get that expression on his face when thinking about this particular future living space. Would smile that smile that makes Hinata feel like he's winning a race he can't afford to lose.

Every time Hinata sees that expression, suddenly, he spots something off, catches himself trying to find something _wrong_ about the apartment. The front hallway is too narrow or the closet is too wide, proportionally, to the bedroom, or the sinks are all too tall.

It's not that there's anything wrong with the places they've seen, that Kageyama has liked. It's just that when Kageyama likes one, he seems to be seeing something _more_ than just the bare, tiny living rooms, the unfurnished bedrooms. Hinata doesn't know what he's seeing, but he doesn't know, either, if it will be enough—some old apartment in the big city. He doesn't know if it will be enough, to keep that look alight in Kageyama's eyes.

To put it in simple terms, Hinata doesn't know if he'll be enough for Kageyama. If his bold suggestion to _stay, together,_ is something he can even manage. And it triggers something unpleasant inside him, to look at Kageyama seeing _something_ in these places, and not know if he himself will be able to live up to those expectations.

So he finds problems with all the spaces Kageyama could come to love. They don't need a dream apartment; they're just two guys looking for a place to stay, and they are _not_ dating.

By the time late afternoon has come and gone and evening is beginning to settle in, Kageyama has a vein going in his temple, Hinata is forcing his cheerfulness out through gritted teeth, and the agent seems close to collapse. They have time to see one more place before calling a very disheartening end to the day.

The location by itself is ideal. It's a ten minute walk to Daichi's garage, around the corner from one of their favorite restaurants. The building is long and squat, only two stories of apartments. The one they will be seeing is on the second floor. Hinata tells himself not to get his hopes up, as the agent lets them in and they step inside the small apartment.

It's warm. Not temperature-warm, but… light-warm. The evening sun seems brighter in the little kitchen, somehow, like the way it would be after a long, dirty day at the garage, satisfying and soft yellow. The living room is small, but cozy, and the bedroom overlooks the streets below, lit in pulses by the white and red lights of the cars going by, the distant hum-song of traffic a constant reminder of city life and living.

Hinata opens his mouth, but before he can speak, Kageyama beats him to it.

"This one's perfect."

Hinata swallows, and turns to look at him. Kageyama is looking about the space, and his eyes are warm like the room, and Hinata feels something twist at his stomach. Like nerves before a race, but scarier.

"I’m just… I’m not sure…" he says hesitantly, before he can stop himself.

Kageyama's fists clench and Hinata wants to wince. Instead, he waits.

"What exactly…" Kageyama finally asks, very slowly, "are you not sure about?"

"It's too…" Hinata says, casting around, because the apartment really _is_ perfect, but he needs a reason. "I dunno, it's too bright? It's—"

"It's too _bright,_ " Kageyama repeats, voice hollow.

"Yeah!" Hinata nods, waving his hands about vaguely. "Yeah, right? Don't you think?"

"No," Kageyama says. "I think it's perfect, like I just said. Which must be why you don't like it."

"What?" Hinata asks.

"Why do you—" Kageyama takes a deep breath. He looks like he is trying very hard to stay calm. "Why do you keep shooting down every place as soon as you think I might like it? I saw your face when we walked in—you liked it, too. So, why?"

"I'm not doing that—"

"If you're having second thoughts about this, just say so!"

As expected, Kageyama's customarily thin well of patience finally runs dry. Hinata recoils (as does the agent, who scurries from the room to take a suspiciously convenient phone call) at the volume of Kageyama's voice, and the frustration in it. And then the words catch up to Hinata.

"Second… thoughts?" he repeats. He wants to say that's not true, but he is. Not because he doesn't want to live with Kageyama, though, he does; but it's new and vastly different to anything that's come before this in his life, when all he's known is the urge to keep moving.  

"Don't play dumb," Kageyama says, "you're already dumb enough."

"I'm dumb?" Hinata asks. _"You're_ dumb! I'm not having second thoughts, I'm just—"

"You keep—freaking out!" Kageyama says. "Every time I like one of these places, you get this _look._ So if you really don't want to move in together, that's fine. Just tell me, instead of doing all this. I don't… like it."

 _Shit,_ Hinata thinks, as Kageyama looks at him without any sort of understanding. He looks like he's trying _not_ to look hurt. Shit, Hinata's been a real idiot.

"Why do you… what are you thinking?" he asks. "When you like a place?"

"What? I don't know," Kageyama says, frowning. "I'm thinking that I like it, obviously."

"Yeah, okay, but you're thinking more, too," Hinata says. "I can tell."

Kageyama looks like he's going to argue again, but then he just… deflates, instead, all the fight going out of him. He shrugs. "I'm really… _really_ thinking that I like it. That I _will_ like it, that I'll like living there with…" He shakes his head. "Nevermind. I just—"

"I've never stayed in one place for long," Hinata interrupts. "Ever since I was a kid. It makes me—nervous?"

"You're always nervous," Kageyama says.

"Shut up," Hinata tells him, lips twitching.

"It's just an apartment, Hinata," Kageyama says, a bit softer. "The lease is monthly."

Hinata laughs at that. "It's not just _living_ somewhere, though."

He runs a hand through his hair. He's unsure of what to say—how to explain to Kageyama what it makes Hinata feel, when he sees Kageyama’s eyes get bright the way they do, sometimes. How it's the same brightness, the same feeling Hinata's always gotten, that comes with 2 AM lights reflecting off chrome and colored metal, that Hinata has always kept in his rearview mirror as he races towards the next exciting thing. But that always means leaving something else behind.

He is used to leaving things behind. But he doesn't want to see these lights fading away, this time. He's just not sure how to keep still.

"I've never stayed in one place," he tries again. "I've never stayed with one crew. I've never… I've never been with someone. Been— _with_ someone."

"Neither have I, stupid," Kageyama says bluntly. "You don't need to have a fuckin' crisis over it."

Hinata stares at him, and then bursts out laughing. "I'm trying to bare my _soul_ here, Kageyama!"

"Well, cut it out," Kageyama says, struggling not to grin. "You're shit at it."

"I know!" Hinata says, as Kageyama starts snorting. "I just—I was trying to say I don't… want to let you down."

Kageyama rubs at his eyes with the palms of his hands like he's massaging away a headache. "Well… you've never let me down before. So maybe we just try and keep going."

Hinata's jaw drops.

"Don't tell anyone I said that, or I will punch you," Kageyama says.

 _"GWAAAH!"_ Hinata shrills, and Kageyama cringes. "Romantic! You're being romantic!"

"No," Kageyama says, "I just want you to settle on a damn apartment."

Hinata bounces himself toward him and Kageyama sighs, enveloping him in a reluctantly smothering hug. Hinata looks up at him, beaming.

"This one," he tells Kageyama, who rolls his eyes, because _clearly,_ this is the one. "I like the way you look at it."

They have to spring awkwardly apart as the agent pops her head back around the doorframe, now that the storm has seemingly passed.

"Perhaps…" she says hesitantly, "now would be a good time for me to mention that each household in the complex has its own two-car garage?"

Hinata and Kageyama look at her, then each other, then back at her.

"We'd like to put in a bid," Kageyama says decisively.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to [Ellie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellessey/pseuds/Ellessey) and [RC](http://reallycorking.tumblr.com/) for looking this over and helping me fine tune it! RC also had the idea for the booty calls and race car sheets which kickstarted this entire idea off <3 
> 
> [I'm [@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


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